B-016: Fintech Evolution: Design Thinking for Financial Technology

Overview | Audience | Outcomes | DT Tools | Duration | Track Record

(1) Course Title and Code

Fintech Evolution: Design Thinking for Financial Technology (B-016)

(2) Course Overview

Traditional financial institutions are facing unprecedented challenges from agile fintech startups that are capitalizing on digital advancements to disrupt the sector. Design Thinking offers a structured framework that fosters creativity and innovation, enabling participants to address and harness these challenges effectively. By applying Design Thinking principles, course participants will learn to develop innovative fintech solutions that are deeply rooted in user needs, ensuring their offerings are both competitive and relevant in the digital age. This course addresses the rapidly changing landscape of financial services driven by technological innovation and market demands.

The AI-Empowered Design Thinking process with AI Design Thinking Agents for the Banking Sector (Details) encompasses a dynamic, end‑to‑end journey (shown below): Determining Challenges, Discovering Information, Defining Opportunities, Developing Ideas, Delivering Solutions and Driving Change. Each stage builds upon the previous one, creating a continuous cycle that transforms insights into impactful, intelligence‑driven innovation.

Design Thinking Agents are powered by advanced large language models from OpenAI’s latest GPT family and Google’s Gemini Flash Image (Nano Banana), delivering enterprise‑grade analytical outputs and clear, executive‑ready visual assets.

Banks typically increase project execution speed by approximately 48% to 95%, depending on complexity and readiness. At the same time, AI‑supported discovery achieves around 90% accuracy in identifying and clustering user needs, enabling initiatives to start with a precise, evidence‑based understanding of customers and employees.

In fact, we successfully led a bank in retaining its high-value customers through a Design Thinking-based customer experience enhancement project, resulting in over $3 billion in additional income from deposits, investments, and insurance services. Additionally, we guided an insurance company in enhancing its social selling model, resulting in a 127% increase in the closing rate from new clients. These successful projects were published in the Hong Kong Design Thinking Business Casebook 2019 and 2020.


(3) Targeted Audience

  • Financial Technology Professionals: Individuals working in fintech companies or traditional financial sectors who are looking to innovate and drive digital transformation within their organizations.
  • Product Managers and Developers: Those responsible for the development and management of financial products and services who seek to integrate user-centered design into their development processes.
  • Entrepreneurs and Start-up Founders: Entrepreneurs in the fintech space who need to rapidly ideate, validate, and implement new financial solutions to stay competitive and meet evolving customer expectations.


(4) Major Learning Outcomes

  1. Learn the guiding principles, core values, and execution model of Design Thinking to apply them effectively in fintech innovation.
  2. Understand how to employ empathetic research methods to uncover deep insights about financial service users’ needs and behaviors.
  3. Develop the ability to prototype and test fintech solutions rapidly to iterate based on feedback and improve the product-market fit.
  4. Gain skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and team-based creativity to enhance solution development and implementation.
  5. Acquire strategic thinking abilities to foresee market trends and align fintech solutions with future customer demands and technological advancements.


(5) Design Thinking Techniques and Tools

Stage 1: Discover

  • Stakeholders’ Power-Interest Matrix (Code 204): This tool will help participants identify key stakeholders in the fintech ecosystem and analyze their levels of influence and interests, which is crucial for understanding market dynamics and user engagement strategies.
  • Contextual Interviews (Code 208): Conducting interviews in the context of where users interact with financial services will provide participants with deeper insights into customer behaviors and needs, supporting the objective of employing empathetic research methods.

Stage 2:Define

  • Persona Design (Code 306): Creating detailed personas will help participants better understand and empathize with the end users of digital banking solutions, thereby aligning fintech innovations with user requirements.
  • Journey Mapping (Code 309): This tool will be used to map the customer journey in digital banking, identifying touchpoints critical to enhancing the user experience and service delivery.

Stage 3: Develop

  • Popcorn (Code 401): An individual brainstorming technique that encourages rapid, spontaneous generation of ideas, which fosters creativity and ideation in developing new fintech solutions.
  • Impose Constraints (Code 406): By imposing specific constraints, participants will learn to think creatively and innovate within limits, which is essential for practical fintech application development.
  • Round Robin (Code 411): This team-based brainstorming method ensures that all team members contribute ideas, enhancing collaborative and interdisciplinary teamwork essential for successful digital transformation projects.

Stage 4:Deliver

  • Concept Poster / Cover Story (Code 502): Participants will use this tool to visualize and communicate their fintech concepts effectively, which is essential for aligning team vision and pitching ideas to stakeholders.
  • Elevator Pitch (Code 513): This technique trains participants to succinctly and compellingly pitch their fintech solutions, a crucial skill for securing buy-in and support in a competitive digital banking environment.

Remark: All the techniques and tools utilized in our training programs can integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data technologies to enhance innovation efficiency by up to 40%. This includes AI-driven User Demand Identification and Prioritization, Quantitative User Emotion Analysis, and AI-driven Innovative Idea Generation and Feasibility Analysis.


(6) Learning Materials (for Training Workshops)

  1. Course Guidebook
  2. Tool Guide
  3. Case Studies
  4. Pre-Course Reading or Watching Materials [Examples]
  5. Post-Course Continue-Learning Materials


(7) Deliver Modes and Durations

Our training programs boast exceptional adaptability. Offerings range from concise 2-hour introductory talks and 4-hour training courses to comprehensive 8-hour to 15-hour action-learning workshops and 30-hour project-based workshops (or Design Sprint Mini-Innovation Projects). This flexibility allows us to tailor each session to your specific needs and schedule, ensuring our training is both highly effective and strategically aligned with your organization’s objectives.

In addition to our training services, we also offer internationally recognized Design Thinking skill Assessment Services. These assessments are designed to help your staff identify and bridge gaps in their innovation competencies, further enhancing their effectiveness and your organization’s competitive edge.


(8) Track Record

Since 2017, we have successfully delivered more than 700 Design Thinking training classes across sectors, such as business, social service, public service, and education, in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and across Asia.

As the exclusive representative of the globally renowned DesignThinkers Academy in China, we offer programs that not only provide internationally recognized Design Thinking certifications but are also facilitated by globally accredited Design Thinking specialists. Our commitment to excellence ensures that each program meets the highest standards and is tailored to empower professionals at all levels with cutting-edge skills and innovative methodologies.

For more Design Thinking Courses for Other Sectors and Management Areas, please click here